Because We Are Made Of Dreams

Threats

"Watch out Prongs!" Sirius clenched his jaws, an intense pain flowing down his wounded arm.

"Well, sorry Pads, but Moony didn"t go easy on you tonight."

"No, really?"

"Stop being such an infant!"

"f**k Prongs!" Sirius shrugged his friend away again, his arm more painful than ever. He could feel tears starting to wet his eyes, and he hated it.

"Pads, I have to heal your arm."

"Clearly you can"t. It"s not supposed to be this painful. It"s never been this painful."

"Maybe your wound is deeper than usual, and that"s why it"s not working," said Peter.

"Thank you Wormtail, but I had already guessed that!" snapped Sirius.

"I don"t know any stronger charm, Pads," said James. "Remus must know though."

Sirius got to his feet, resting his left shoulder against the wall of the tunnel that connected Hogwarts to the Shrieking Shack.

"We"ll ask him later then."

"Do you want us to make a stop by the Hospital Wing, to get you something for the pain?" Peter asked him while James helped Sirius walk through the tunnel.

"No thanks. It"s too dangerous anyway. And I"ll be fine, Remus will know what to do, we"ll see him later in the morning."

When they came out of the tunnel, walking under the Whomping Willow, the sun was almost rising, and the sky was slowly becoming less and less dark, the shadows of the world fading, and the noises of the night less scary than before. The second they reached their dorm, Sirius let himself fall down on his bed, moaning loudly. Peter went to bed too, exhausted after their night with the werewolf. But James lit up his wand and started to modify the Marauders" Map, adding the new passages they had discovered that night. As he was about to fold it back into his trunk, five dark spots caught his eyes. In the Slytherin Common Room Mulciber, Avery, Lestrange, Snape and Bellatrix Black were gathered. It couldn"t be a good sign. Every time those five psychopaths were together, something bad happened, and it was often the Gryffindors who were targeted... He looked at his watch, it was almost six in the morning. Peter was already snoring. And when he looked at Sirius in the bed next to his, his eyes were closed, though he knew he wasn"t completely asleep, probably because of his painful arm. Anyway, the boy needed to rest, and James needed to steal an hour of sleep himself, so he took off his glasses and laid down, burying his face in his pillow. It could wait until they were all up, and had visited Remus at the Hospital Wing, and Sirius had been healed... James sighed, closing his eyes.

Always so many things to do with this band of idiots...

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When Remus opened his eyes, he wasn"t surprised to see all of his friends around his bed, eating their breakfast and chatting lightly. He smiled, conscious of how lucky he was to have friends like them. Sirius helped him to sit straighter in his bed, and handed him a cup of tea.

"How do you feel?" asked Alice.

He smiled at her reassuringly, while trying not to throw up. It was only the second full moon the girls had come to visit, and they were not yet completely familiar with all the symptoms that went with his transformations. He didn"t want them to worry about him, but of course his three friends were not as delicate. James reached out for a basket next to his bed.

"Need to spew?" he asked, his mouth full of eggs.

"I"m fine, James."

"Sirius said it was alright if we ate our breakfast with you..." started Lily, a sheepish expression on her face.

"It"s fine Lils. It"s normal for me to feel sick after a full moon. You can eat, it doesn"t bother me."

Clara seemed deep in thought, chewing her quill.

"Stronger after the flames," she asked out loud, "seven letters."

"A Phoenix," answered Sirius casually.

"Thanks!" she smiled as she wrote the word down on her newspaper.

Sirius was sitting right opposite her, and he was fighting hard not to stare. In the pale light of the morning, her eyes were greener than ever...

"Sirius, could you hand me some bread please," Marlene asked him.

And here she was biting her lower lip again...

"Sirius!"

She looked up at him, and he lost himself in her eyes...

Marlene touched his arm, and the boy jumped, wincing and moaning with pain.

"Are you alright?" Clara asked him, getting up instantly.

"Sure! I simply fell off my bed this morning, it"s nothing."

"You should ask Mrs. Pomfrey some help, it seems quite painful," Alice replied.

"I"m fine, I simply fell. I"ll survive."

Remus was even paler than before.

"Let me take a look," Clara told him kindly, already walking around the bed to reach him.

"No, it"s okay Clara really, I"m fine."

"Last time I healed your nose, and you didn"t feel anything. Trust me."

"I do trust you, it"s simply useless."

"Come on..."

"I said no." He was clearly annoyed by now.

"Why do you not want me to take a look if it"s nothing?" she argued.

"Clara look, if he doesn"t want your help, you should leave him alone," James defended his friend.

Lily narrowed her eyes.

"Are you two hiding something from us?" she asked slowly.

"Of course not!" James protested.

"You"re lying!"

"He"s not lying!" Sirius joined in. "Anyway, all this is completely stupid. I"m not dying, I simply twisted my arm while falling from my bed this morning, because this moron let me sleep too long and I had to hurry out of bed. Now, I don"t reckon I should come and ask you for treatment every time I have a scratch, should I?"

Clara didn"t move for a while, and when she spoke again, her voice was cold.

"We both know you didn"t fall off your bed, Sirius. You"re lying to me, and I don"t know why. But what I do know, is that I don"t like it."

She stormed out of the Hospital Wing, quickly followed by Alice, Marlene and Lily. Sirius sighed heavily, throwing his head backwards and staring at the ceiling.

"I hate girls..." he moaned.

"Sirius, did I..."

Remus was shaking, pale as sheets. He hated it when he hurt his friends, and for that reason he always was quite reluctant to let them join him at full moons. But his friends were not the kind of people to take no for an answer, so...

"Relax Moony, it"s not that bad," Sirius reassured him.

He showed his arm to Remus, who clenched his jaws, furious with himself.

"It"s quite deep," James explained, "we couldn"t heal it properly."

"I"m sorry Padfoot..."

"Stop it Moony, it"s not your fault," Sirius interrupted him. "Could you give me hand though?"

Remus took his wand from his bedside table, and in the blink of an eye, Sirius was perfectly healed.

"Thanks Moony, you"re the best!"

"You"re welcome. But really this is so dangerous..."

The three boys shushed him together.

"We have been through this many times," said James.

"And it"s always the same boring talk," added Peter.

"Which always ends up by us telling you to f**k off, "cause we"re the Marauders, and we"ll always be here for each other, whatever may happen," added Sirius.

Remus smiled, clearly moved.

"Morons!" he said, tears shining in his eyes.

"I"ll take it as a compliment," laughed Sirius.

A thought popped suddenly into James"s head, and he shushed his laughing friends.

"I almost forgot to tell you. Yesterday, when we went back to the dorm, I added some new things to the Map. And I saw something quite alarming."

"What did you see?" Peter asked him, quite scared at the boy"s stern tone.

"The Slytherins, all in their Common Room. It was not yet six in the morning... something"s wrong."

"And they haven"t done anything after the attacks, even when we played pranks on them..." said Remus slowly, deep in thought.

"What do you reckon they"re planning?" asked Peter.

"No idea," answered James, "but it can"t be anything good."

"We"d better be careful," said Sirius.

The first thing that crossed his mind was Clara being somewhere else in the Castle, he didn"t know where, and a lump crept up his throat, his heart racing with fear. He could not let her out of his sight...

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In their History of Magic class no one was listening, as always. Sirius was sitting right behind Clara, and he felt the urge to play with her hair. He shook himself instead and tapped on her shoulder, until she finally turned around, scowling at him.

"Clara, we need to talk," he began.

"I don"t want to talk with you, since you decided to lie to me right to my face," she snapped, turning towards their teacher again.

"I"m sorry," he apologized.

She didn"t answer, and so he went on.

"Look, I can"t tell you how I hurt myself last night, but... I promise I"m alright. I"m completely healed, I can show you if you want."

"Why are you always so secretive about everything?"

"It"s not only my secret to tell Clara..."

"Are you protecting someone else?"

Her voice wasn"t that angry anymore.

"Yes, I am."

She didn"t answer for a while, and when she finally spoke, her voice was neutral, maybe a bit too neutral.

"Is it because of a girl?"

Sirius didn"t answer, and Clara took his silence for yes.

"You could just have told me that, I wouldn"t have gotten mad like I did."

Sirius jumped on this occasion to find a good excuse for his behaviour.

"I was afraid you would."

"I know you can"t act decently with any girl in this school who"s not one of us Gryffindors, it"s no news to me."

"Last time you got angry."

"Because you acted like a prat, and in front of me."

"Are you still mad at me?"

She sighed heavily.

"No, I"m not."

He grinned.

"Thanks, you"re so merciful..."

"Don"t try me too much though..."

"Right, okay. Got it."

She turned around to look at him, and couldn"t help but smile at the sight of his mischievous grin. He was so annoying sometimes...

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James ran a hand through his already messy hair. He spotted Shelley near the Lake, and strode towards her.

"Aren"t you cold out here?" he asked her, kissing her cheek.

"I"m fine. I wanted to have some fresh air."

"Well, it"s definitely fresh."

She stared at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, narrowing her eyes

""Course I am. Why?"

"I don"t know. You seem tired, and worried."

James rubbed his eyes, sighing.

"I"m fine. I just didn"t sleep very well last night."

"That explains the exhaustion, but not the worry."

"It"s nothing."

"Talk to me," she said softly, staring at him and putting her arms around him, squeezing him tightly against her.

He sighed again.

"Let"s say that I have a bad feeling about something, but I can"t really do anything about it."

"Wow... That was such an intense confession..."

"I can"t tell you what"s going on, "cause I actually don"t even know what"s going on. It"s just a feeling... a feeling that something bad is going to happen."

Shelley smiled reassuringly.

"We"re in Hogwarts, what could happen to us?"

"You"re right of course," he answered.

He didn"t tell her that many things could actually happen inside the protected walls of the school. Instead, he kissed her deeply.

"What was that for?" she asked him seductively, playing with his tie.

"I just wanted to kiss you. And as you"re my girlfriend, I reckon I can kiss you whenever I want to."

She laughed, kissing his lips.

"What have you planned for this week-end?" she asked him cautiously.

He rubbed his nose against hers, while his right hand wandered across her back.

"Well, it"s Hogsmeade trip this week-end, have you forgotten?"

"No, I haven"t."

"Then you should know what I"m going to do."

"Really?"

He frowned. She looked like she was waiting for him to say something, and though he knew what she was expecting, he couldn"t understand why.

"Shelley, you"re my girlfriend. I didn"t think an official invitation was actually required for us to go on a date together."

She grinned.

"It still feels good to hear it," she said.

"But who else could I go with anyway?"

"James, it still feels good to hear you asking, and to give you a positive answer."

He rolled his eyes, but asked anyway.

"Shelley, would you come with me to Hogsmeade this week-end?"

"Yes, James, I would love to."

"Good!"

He kissed her again.

Really. Girls sometimes...

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They were coming back to the Castle after their Care for Magical Creatures class. Sirius was the first to spot the Slytherins in the distance, and he nudged James, nodding in the direction of the students. James clenched his jaws, keeping his wand at the ready. Behind them, Remus and Peter had seen them too, and were getting ready for a fight.

"We were just looking for you all!" cried Bellatrix Black.

"Well, you"ve found us, what do you want?" Lily asked coldly.

"It"s been ten days since the attack. We wanted to organize a little party, would you come?" asked Lestrange, winking at the girls.

"You really are disgusting," spat Clara, loathing twisting her usually kind expression.

"Why? Daddy said you should not go out after curfew? How is he by the way? Still going nowhere I guess," Bellatrix said.

She broke into one of her mad laughs, and Alice held Clara back.

"Come on, they"re not worth it," she said to her friend.

"I wonder how purebloods like you can hang around with Mudbloods like them!" spat Mulciber to Alice.

"You"d better shut your filthy mouth," James warned the Slytherin.

"Or else what Potter?"

"Or else we"ll make you shut it, and you won"t like it," replied Sirius, his tone sharp as a knife.

Bellatrix laughed madly again.

"We"re not afraid of you lot!"

"You should be," replied James.

"Threats now?"

"You began it."

"Anyway, we were only bringing some news that might interest you."

"Oh, really, and what is that?" asked Clara, her arms crossed on her chest.

"I"m sure you"ll be glad to learn that all the wizards who had been arrested after the attacks, which makes only three of them with the extreme efficiency of the Aurors... have all been freed."

"WHAT?" they all cried together.

"Yes, they had an alibi, you see."

Bellatrix took one more step towards Sirius.

"After all, they were attending a private little party in your house, cousin. Or perhaps I should say, your former house!"

Sirius became livid. He knew his parents were crazy, but really this was beyond everything he had imagined...

"You should see this as a lesson, and choose the side of the winners. "Cause all your little Mudblood friends are going to die, and their families as well. You"re one of us Sirius, time to rememb..."

But the Slytherin girl didn"t finish her sentence, for Clara silenced her. Bellatrix threw her a glance full of hatred.

"I"m tired of listening to your s**t," Clara told her.

Lestrange raised his wand towards her, but all the Gryffindors were ready to fight.

"You"d better not even think about it," Sirius said through gritted teeth.

Fuming, the Slytherins backed away.

"It"s not over," Bellatrix mouthed.

"Sorry? Didn"t hear that?" replied Lily.

None of them moved before the Slytherins had disappeared in the distance. James put a hand on Sirius"s shoulder.

"You know it"s bullshit, you"re not like them, mate."

"I know, thank you."

Clara smiled reassuringly at him as they walked towards the Castle again.

"You shouldn"t have done that," he told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"They"re dangerous."

"I love danger."

"I wasn"t joking."

"I know. But I"m not afraid of them."

"Maybe you should be."

"They were messing with your head. I couldn"t do nothing."

She touched his arm, and he shuddered under her touch.

"You"re my friend, and friends take care of each other," she told him softly.

"And I"m telling you to be careful for the same reason," he replied.

"I know, I understand."

"I don"t think you do."

"Are you going to be okay? With your family and all..."

"I knew they were mad, but that"s a new record."

"Can I do anything?"

He smiled at her.

"I"m fine."

He gave her the classical I"m-not-fine-but-I"m-acting-as-if-I-were look he gave her every time his family was mentioned, and she knew better than to insist. But all afternoon he remained quite tense, more silent than usual, and she saw him drifting away in one of his dark phases in which he pushed everyone away. While they were sitting by the fire, waiting for dinner, she tried to make him laugh with funny drawings of their friends. James wearing McGonagall"s glasses and throwing him her deadly look earned her a genuine smile and a bit of giggling, but his mood didn"t rise.

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At the end of dinner, while they were going back to the Tower, Simon called after Clara, and he walked with her behind her group of friends towards the Gryffindor Tower.

"Hi! How are you?" he asked her merrily.

"I"m fine, thank you," she answered. "What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to ask you if there was anything you wanted to do at Hogsmeade. Or if there were any places you didn"t like. I don"t want to take you to your least favourite place on our first date."

She smiled.

"Well, I don"t mind really. We can go wherever you want."

"Okay, I"ll try to do something great. I can be romantic, you know," he added, half joking.

Sirius rolled his eyes. His blood was boiling in his veins. He was partly aware of James talking to him on his right, but he wasn"t paying attention. He was only focused on Clara"s conversation.

"I can"t wait to see that," she answered.

"I was wondering," he said after a few steps in silence, "what time do you want us to go?"

"Well, I think everyone is going after lunch. I reckon Alice and Frank are leaving at one o"clock. So I guess one o"clock it is."

"You mean... you want us to go with your friends?"

She looked at him.

"Well, I don"t know. We were supposed to all go together, and to separate at Hogsmeade. So either you can come with us, either we meet in Hogsmeade, I don"t care really. As you prefer."

But Simon seemed annoyed.

"What"s wrong?" she asked him.

"I don"t know, I thought we would go together. Alone..."

"Oh... I don"t know. We have already decided to go together."

They arrived at the portrait hole, and Clara and Simon remained behind the rest of the group. James pushed the portrait open.

"But it"s our date!" Simon protested.

"It doesn"t matter if we meet there then. I can understand you don"t want to go with my friends, but I want to go with them."

Sirius cleared his voice, and made a sign for Clara to hurry up. She glared at him.

"What"s wrong with him?" Simon asked her, frowning at the Gryffindor boy.

"Don"t mind him, he had a bad day. I"ll see you at half past one, in front of the Three Broomsticks, okay?"

"No, no... I can go with your friends."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

He took a step closer to her.

"As long as I can spend more time with you," he said in a seductive voice.

She felt her cheeks burning, but it was only because she felt ill-at-ease all of a sudden. She didn"t like this flirtatious game Simon was playing at right now.

"Okay... well..."

"You look beautiful tonight, by the way," he interrupted her.

"Thank you..."

"Come on Romeo, give us a break!" Sirius exploded, striding out of the Common Room.

"What?..."

Sirius couldn"t take it anymore. Simon was openly flirting with her now, and it was too much for him to bear. He hated this guy, and he wanted to cut his head off...

"We understand, you fancy her. Now she has given you an hour for your date, what more do you want? Snogging? That doesn"t come that easy, dude!"

"Sirius are you mad?!" Clara cried.

She was furious, her fists clenched with anger, her cheeks burning. He hated to see her looking at him that way, it was painful actually, but he couldn"t help it.

"What? There are limits Clara!"

"It"s none of your business!" she replied.

"It is!"

"It"s not!"

They were both shouting by now.

"I can"t believe you"re dating this guy!"

"What are you talking about?"

"He"s an arse!"

"Hey..." cried Simon.

But Clara stopped him.

"You"re the one who"s sounding like a prat!" she replied to Sirius.

She asked Simon to leave them alone and the boy left, glaring at Sirius. Clara tried to calm down nonetheless.

"I know you"ve had a bad day," she said more calmly. "But you"re crossing a line now, Sirius."

"Oh am I? I thought he was crossing a line!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I don"t trust him."

"Well, lucky for us all you"re not the one who"s dating him this week-end."

"I"m serious."

"So am I. It"s none of your business."

"He"s not interested in you, only in the snogging part."

"How can you know that? You"ve talked with him like two minutes!"

"I can see it. The way he looks at you... He"s only interesting in snogging you in a dark corner!"

"You"re wrong!"

"We"ll see then! But don"t come to find me when the bastard has broken your heart!"

"You"re overreacting over nothing!"

"I"m simply more clear-minded than you are!"

"It"s none of your business!"

"It is my business!"

"Oh, so according to you, I should let you choose my boyfriends?"

"At least you wouldn"t be dating someone who doesn"t give a damn about hurting you, as long as he can find his way into your knickers!"

"Funny, coming from the guy who acts exactly like that himself with girls!"

Sirius clenched his jaws, but didn"t say anything. Clara shook her head.

"You"re acting like a jealous jerk, Sirius. I get it, you had hard day, but it"s not like I haven"t tried to help. You can"t take it out on me on me and Simon!"

"I"m not taking it out on..."

"Enough! I"ve had enough!"

She ran past him and hurried to the girl"s dormitories. Sirius rushed in as well, fuming, and ran up the stairs to his own dorm. In the Common Room, their friends were all silent.

"That is what I call a fight," said Frank after a while.

"I"d better go check on Clara," said Lily. "That i***t will have upset her for sure."

"Don"t be too hard on him," James defended his friend.

"What do you mean?" the redheaded girl asked him.

"He had a tough day, and I know he doesn"t like Simon. It was just too much for him."

"Don"t defend him! He acted like a jerk!"

"He"s just trying to protect her."

"No James, he was wrong."

"He "s protecting a friend, there"s nothing wrong with that."

"Yes, there is. Because he can"t decide for her."

"But..."

"No James, Sirius is wrong, and he hurt her by acting like a prat."

"You don"t understand."

"Good night James!"

And she climbed up the stairs, also furious. James sighed heavily, and climbed up the stairs to his own dormitory.

And he had hoped all day for a good night"s sleep...

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The next morning, the girls didn"t sit with the Marauders. Neither Clara nor Lily looked at James and Sirius, and both were hurt, but neither showed any sign of it. When she talked with Simon in front of the Great Hall, where everyone could see them, Sirius took it personally. It was as if she was shouting to the world that she didn"t give a damn about what he thought. Well, if she didn"t care about him, then he wouldn"t care about her either. He managed to set up a rendezvous between two classes with Stefani, the girl he was supposed to date this very week-end. He knew Clara had to go to the Library, she had told him so a few days ago, and so he waited for Stefani near the entrance, where he knew Clara would pass. The blond girl arrived, looking excited.

"Why did you want to see me?" she asked him, grinning.

Sirius shrugged, giving her one of his irresistible looks.

""Guess I couldn"t wait till Hogsmeade."

She giggled.

"Did you have something in mind?" she asked, clearly flirting.

He smiled and kissed her feverishly, pressing her against the wall. He didn"t have to wait for long before hearing footsteps, and he recognised Clara"s swift and light steps instantly. Stefani tried to stop the kiss, but Sirius squeezed her even more against him, and kissed her even more passionately, and she surrendered. He could hear that Clara slowed down when she saw them, before stopping, and finally rushing away towards the Library. He smiled in the crook of Stefani"s neck. He could have a date too, he didn"t need her. Clara wanted to date a jerk? Her problem, not his, he couldn"t care less...

But when he sat down in Transfiguration, and she ignored him completely again, but waved at Simon from across the room, he felt the cold dagger of jealousy piercing his heart once more.

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The next day was just the same, and neither Lily nor Clara would talk to Sirius or James, though James had tried several times to speak to them. Sirius was still too mad to apologize, but he was starting to think about what had happened, and he knew he was the one who was wrong. And he missed her. He missed her sitting next to him at meals, he missed filling up the crossword with her while waiting for their first class, he missed the sound of her voice, and her laugh, and her jokes... It felt like a part of himself was missing. But when he tried to talk to her that evening, she refused to listen, and ran away, leaving him alone in the stairs. So Sirius decided to take a walk. He needed to clear his head, to think. But he didn"t go far, before hearing a familiar voice.

"We have to do something!" It was Bellatrix Black.

"Not here Bella!" said the voice of Avery.

"We can"t let those bitches go away with this! We have to move against the Gryffindor girls!"

"We will," said Lestrange, "but we need to organize something, to have a plan."

"We shouldn"t talk about that here," Snape said. "Let"s go to the Common Room."

They hurried away, and soon their footsteps disappeared into the silence of the Castle. Sirius turned around, and ran towards the Tower. They were planning their revenge on the girls. Clara was all he could think of by now. He had to protect her, at any cost... He hurried up the stairs and stormed into the dorm. James sat up quickly at the sight of his worried friend.

"What"s wrong Padfoot?" he asked him.

Sirius turned towards him. His eyes were full of rage and wrath.

"The Slytherins."